Vacuum cleaners may be supplied with various nozzle attachments. The most common attachments include floor brushes, powered nozzles, and crevice tools. Each attachment serves a different purpose. For instance, the floor brush is mainly used to vacuum hard surfaces such as hardwood floors or tile. Powered nozzles are generally composed of hard, inflexible material and have bristles used to dig deeper into carpets and rugs to break-up the dirt and remove it from the surface. Crevice tools generally have a blade shaped inlet and are used to vacuum hard to reach crevices and corners.
There are many problems that can be associated with using nozzle attachments. For example, when cleaning a rug or mat some users take the rug outside to beat dust and debris off because vacuuming with a nozzle attachment may be too ineffective. While taking the rug outside is effective, this method requires a person to take multiple steps to clean a rug leading to additional time and energy spent on this task especially if the user intends to vacuum the rug afterwards. Another problem with nozzle attachments is that many attachments are difficult to use underneath furniture and other hard to reach areas. The orientation of the nozzle can prevent it from fully contacting the surface, which may be an inefficient use of the nozzle.
Additional example of problems associated with nozzle attachments relates to vacuuming the inside of a vehicle. Vehicles may contain many areas that need to be vacuumed such as seats, floors, and floor mats. Floor brushes meant for wood or tile are not as effective in cleaning carpeted floor mats or seats. In addition, floor brushes are difficult to operate in small crevices in a vehicle, such as between and underneath seats. Powered nozzles are better capable at cleaning both floor mats and seats, but encounter the same difficulty as floor brushes in reaching small crevices and corners due to their inflexible construction.
Using a crevice tool is beneficial in vacuuming hard to reach crevices and corners. One issue with crevice tools is that the blade inlet is thinner than other attachments. This assists the crevice tool at vacuuming corners but makes its use for vacuuming an entire vehicle or large surface area using just the crevice tool inefficient. Switching between the crevice tool and other attachments adds additional time to vacuuming. Crevice tools comprise hard plastic bodies with the blade inlet shaped to a specified angle. To get the best effectiveness from the tool, the user must hold the tool at a specific angle to allow full suction. This may be difficult to do in a small space and may also add additional time to the vacuuming process.
Thus, a need exists for a flexible nozzle that can provide efficient cleaning of large surface areas while also having the ability to vacuum hard to reach crevices and corners.